Sunday, October 15, 2017

Daggerr Knives Urban Dagger Knife Review - Optimistic Dissonance!

First of all - sorry for my long absence from the blog guys.For all those who asked - I'm fine, just life happened and I needed time to move into a new apartment and traveled to China immediately after, but now I'm back at full speed!

So, I finally found the time to do a review of this knife I got more than 2 months ago.If you missed their posts on IG - it is a knife that was designed in Russia but manufactured in ChinaIt was sent directly by the company Daggerr Knives (in Moscow, Russia) and arrived pretty fast (~ a week and a half) with tracking.

First impressions:- The knife arrived in a black cardboard box, branded with company's name.The quality out of the box wasn't the best to say the least: the knife was centered and had good lockup, but had a pretty stiff deployment, play in the detent and crooked, uneven sharpening.I got the knife apart and worked on the action (cleaned it and polished the washers), but the action didn't improve dramatically (like it should have) and that is due to the tolerances and overall fit the knife was built with.Then I tried to replace the large bronze washer with a teflon one (Ganzo Style! :) ) and it worked beautifully! Now the knife is significantly smoother and deploys easily with one hand.

The Bad:- I will start with the bad on this one and the reason is the overall quality of the fit and finish on this knife. It really leaves a bad taste (especially out of the box) if you have already tried higher end knives and know how those are supposed to work and operate.The good side of the bad finish is the feeling that the knife was hand built in Medieval times (which it of course wasn't, maybe hand built by the Chinese), in times when people cared that the knife or other tool/weapon works more than the fit and finish, smoothness of the action and other First World Knife problems.- I would also like to point out the pocket clip (knife rides too high on the pocket).The Ugly:- The uneven sharpening (like it was made by a blind and drunk ape). No way around it - it is just ugly.

The Good:- The Design (it was the reason I got it in the first place). The knife is pretty different from the usual mass and stands out in the crowd. I can't really put my finger on it (it may be the fact it isn't trying to be the best EDC knife out there, but made for thrusting or that dagger bladeshape on a folder, slim profile with a medieval style to it), but I liked it from the moment I saw it. I think using blackwash on the blade was a wise choice, just like choosing liner lock and the materials.- The ergos - are both good and unusual. I also liked the choil and the thumb ramp with gimping.- The deployment (after washer exchange and breaking in) - the knife became much smoother, although the detent play didn't go away, but is now hardly noticeable. I also appreciate that the company didn't copy Spyderco's round hole but altered it to the shape of a skull/mushroom. This gives the same advantages of a thumb hole - doesn't get in the way while cutting and could be flicked out with a middle finger.The Great:- I liked the fact that the company acknowledges the fact it got screwed by the manufacturing company over quality and QC and being honest about it (also learned their lesson and the next batch will be made in Russia with premium materials).

Summary:- It has been a while since I felt this much dissonance between the quality of the knife and the design.I think the latter has an upper hand, as the design is very charismatic and unique and I am excited and optimistic that the company will improve and make this design with a better quality in the future.

Could be an interesting collaboration :)As for the butt hole ( :) ) - it is just a design thing with no special purpose.I think it might be useful if you would consider tying it to a stick to make a spear.Cheers!